1989 gte rebuild

[ant]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

Real bugger mate... interested to hear the end of this tale of woe. Nothing worse than not finding a problem straight away... plays on the mind.

[tonka666]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

Gutted for you mate can't believe the damage to that bearing and shell. I say just chuck in a cheap working eco for now so the car can be driven. Then at least you can work on the chassis set up and actually get some use out of it. Then you can get your engine sorted as and when the motivation takes hold. A working gte may well motivate you on the engine re-build side of things too when the "more power" voice starts talking to you

[DarrenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

actually got heat staining on the cap. this is what annoys me about the inquest, you cant measure that cap and say if its oval thus causing the bearing failure, or oval because of the bearing failure

[Davey J]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

MK2 Curse strikes again! That is pants man. I'd go with the snotty engine option myself. You might even be surprised by how much abuse it might take. Then build the other one up in the background. At least you are mobile that way and can give the car some death before stage 2.

[BlackBox]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

I can only think that the rod is oval.

The very first time I stripped my engine some 15yrs ago I had the con rods measured by the chaps doing the re-bore. the big ends were oval, I don't remember the measurements but it was quite large and enough to cause knocking but it didn't knock. Must of had good oil pressure.
Anyway I had the conrods re-machined to make them round again and that cured that.

However to my point .... the crank wasn't damaged nor where the bearings .... I have a feeling your issues lay elsewhere?
But still measure the conrods for ovality .... all of them ....

[tonka666]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

It could be that the oil way was blocked on first start up but then cleared with the flushing oil but not quick enough to save the bearing and crank.

[BenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

Real bugger mate... interested to hear the end of this tale of woe. Nothing worse than not finding a problem straight away... plays on the mind.

At least it did not let me down on the way to a track or the middle of nowhere, if it's going fubar then at home is the best place

Gutted for you mate can't believe the damage to that bearing and shell. I say just chuck in a cheap working eco for now so the car can be driven. Then at least you can work on the chassis set up and actually get some use out of it. Then you can get your engine sorted as and when the motivation takes hold. A working gte may well motivate you on the engine re-build side of things too when the "more power" voice starts talking to you

Indeed I have my eye on a couple, if it turns out to be good it can go in the mk3 after to take that from 1.8- 2.0

actually got heat staining on the cap. this is what annoys me about the inquest, you cant measure that cap and say if its oval thus causing the bearing failure, or oval because of the bearing failure

Indeed but still worth checking at least for piece of mind.

MK2 Curse strikes again! That is pants man. I'd go with the snotty engine option myself. You might even be surprised by how much abuse it might take. Then build the other one up in the background. At least you are mobile that way and can give the car some death before stage 2.

It's not a curse, I suspect tonka got the incorrect rihno. Just bad juju!

The very first time I stripped my engine some 15yrs ago I had the con rods measured by the chaps doing the re-bore. the big ends were oval, I don't remember the measurements but it was quite large and enough to cause knocking but it didn't knock. Must of had good oil pressure.
Anyway I had the conrods re-machined to make them round again and that cured that.

However to my point .... the crank wasn't damaged nor where the bearings .... I have a feeling your issues lay elsewhere?
But still measure the conrods for ovality .... all of them ....

Maybe, I will say the tolerence with the old bearings was a little bigger when I plastigauged them, the new ones much tighter but not overly. Also the old bearing were damaged as well but being non sputter softer. Might be oval + tighter tolerence + sputter being damn hard

It could be that the oil way was blocked on first start up but then cleared with the flushing oil but not quick enough to save the bearing and crank.

I span it over for a good while on the starter with out plugs in first, But I drop the mains off soon and have a look and see how they are.


I think I'm going to adjust the fitment of a couple of things first (lower brace) before I'll drop the engine out and have a good measure up for a couple of other braces I've been thinking of prehaps.

Before I get another engine I'll price up the rebuild costs for this first, as it might be better to spend the money fixing this first.. Dont want to rush into anything just yet and get a proper plan sorted, which I will no doubt disregard and do somthing else lol.

[tonka666]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

I forgot the rihno for the second start up my fault i will have to slaughter a rihno and 2 snow leopards next time may add an american eagle just for extra good juju.

[BenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

Ta

Would be good if I could find some XER pistons and rods, did they do the OPC astra G over here at all??

[BlackBox]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

What about the clearances on the others though, if they were larger then that could starve a tighter one?

To put a re-build into perspective (no finger wagging as I'm just as guilty) I have just done a deal on two full c20xe engines for £75 each .... they need the heads sorting, bent valves, but all else look good .... both had cam belt failures. one new set of valves came with the deal as did loads of spares ...

Sometimes I question if my sanity remains intact ... when I confer with my closest and dearest my suspicion is quantified ..... so that must mean I'm right then dunit .... onwards and forwards ......

[tonka666]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

Ta

Would be good if I could find some XER pistons and rods, did they do the OPC astra G over here at all??

The early mk4 sri's were just standard x20xe hadn't even heard of it till you came across one which cars had it fitted? vectra sri ?? there are alot of eco's in my local scrappy most still in one piece.

[BenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

If I rebuild this one and tbh it would of been nice to rebore this one, then somthing need to be done about the pistons to allow more lift @tdc so I can advance the inlet more.

When I first built up the engine I did not plan for higher lift cams to come up so soon and at a good price, so it was on the cards anyhow. Better rods would be nice even if they are just the XE/XER type and a little stronger for piece of mind.

Lots to think about..

All the clearences were fairly even across all 4, just the old bearings had a little more slack. Old were on the max allowed, new on the min allowed really FA in it. Once it's out on the bench and I feel more motivated with a clear head I'll have a look with fresh eyes, just a bit sick of thinking about at the moment tbh.

[BenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

The early mk4 sri's were just standard x20xe hadn't even heard of it till you came across one which cars had it fitted? vectra sri ?? there are alot of eco's in my local scrappy most still in one piece.

Just the Astra G OPC version, Rocking horse poo I suspect

Tempted to buy a running car rather than scrapyard engine, been stung by breakers before

[BenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

Ok so after some tinking and maths and oily drip under the car A new possible plan!

My crank may polish up, most of the markings look to be stuck on bearing material. Though it could go undersize and will clean up fine, mains are all good and poked a rod up the oil drilling and thats fine. Still need to strip tbh but will get that done soon.

I have been offered a 2.2 eco old type like mine not the chain driven one.

2 options on that, one is build it as a 2.2 with my head and bodies. Or if it can be done and will need to strip it and measure, 2.0 crank 2.2 block and rods. Will still give me a 2.0 but will have longer rods and a better con rod ratio, so should make better top end power due to the piston traveling slower and less side loads and wear in the bores.

2.0 is 86mm stroke and a 143.1mm rod makes the the ratio 1.66
2.2 is 94.6mm stroke and a 148mm rod makes the ratio 1.56
2.0 and a 148mmm rod is a 1.72 ratio, should be better for a revvy engine.

Still early days and need to get one stripped and see how it will works out, hence getting a cheap 2.2 to see what the score is.

[BenH]

Re: 1989 gte rebuild

A little update, I should hopefully over the next few days be picking up a x20xev in good running order to just drop in and stick the bodies on to get it running for now.

I will also be getting soon a x22xe for the tall block to use my ported head and cams ect in, just need to go and remove it from it's current home

As much as the extra displacment would be nice I still think a destroked long rod 2.0 may be the way to go, though I might need bigger itbs for that one as well in the end. Thankfully steel rods can be had for it, but I may need a different compression height on the pistons as well if the block cant be decked enough.

I really need to find a list of rod lengths and pin/bearing sizes for differnt engines, as well as some piston information such as compression height.
For example some volvo engines use a forged fracture split rod and ctr pistons will be very well made and 86mm.